Viva Las San Di Frisco Day 9 Vegas - Monterey

[Alyson]

Viva Las San Di Frisco Day 9 Friday 2nd September

Leaving Las Vegas on our way to Monterey

Weather – 95 Vegas 70 Monterey

News today : Woman attacked by a bat in Walmart


I’m awake at 6.30am with no sign of a hangover, result! I look at my feet and they are filthy, did I sleep walk last night? We could still hear the nightclub last night, if anything it seemed louder and we could feel the vibration too!




Showered dressed packed, do the all important weighing of the suitcases, our little electronic device is so very useful, takes the guesswork out of it, and saves the unedifying sight at the airport of unpacking and repacking on the floor at check-in whilst red in the face and arguing lol!




We empty 36 bottles of beer from the fridge and line them up outside Mel & Andy’s room, at least we hope it’s there room!

We have a coffee and one of the gorgeous blueberry muffins before collecting our cases ready to check out. We tell the receptionist that we have enjoyed our stay but not the noise and the hassle of changing rooms etc; he asks what they can do? I say take off the upgrade charge which he does. Because the room was booked on Marriott points we only have to pay for food and drink $360 very happy with that

We take a cab to the airport he takes us the correct way and is very nice and normal we are so relieved to get a normal cabbie we give him $20 for a $13 dollar fare.

Check in is uneventful, there are slots in the waiting area so put in $20 and I don’t win, it must be broken! No ding ding ding, it’s probably a good job we are leaving Las Vegas today.

The flight was find with no bumps, so no rescue remedy required

At San Fran we pick up a sandwich to share from the Napa Farmers Shop, it tastes so lovely and fresh, we waited 25 minutes for our cases before heading onto the monorail to the car hire centre.

Our hearts sank when we saw the lines, Avis, Hertz, Budget all rammed, then we saw Dollar only 5 people and 5 people serving within 5 minutes we were been dealt with. I have to say this is the first time ever I have experienced the hard sell. Upgrade car, Upgrade road side assistance, I got him down to $25 per day signed and went to find the car, I say car it was like a bus, it was a 7 seater and pretty basic. I looked at my paperwork and he’d charged me full price $700

I went to where we had just collected the keys and spoke to a lovely lady, who immediately refunded every penny and gave up our original SUV back. She apologised and intimated that this wasn’t the first time this guy had ‘done this kind of thing’

We had our own sat nav and a paper map from Dollar, the map was mainly for the San Fran area but showed the main roads for us to head in the right direction until Tom Tom figured out where the heck we were.

We headed on the 101 towards San Jose; the Sat Nav isn’t charging and can’t get a location. Michael remembers that there is a second charging point in the back, luckily this works, we have had this happen in Florida, it’s odd

I press lots of buttons on the sat nav and eventually it works out where we are... phew!

The Tom Tom is set to an English voice, and she struggles like crazy with place names, but it’s amusing so we leave it

It was 72 in San Francisco it climbs to 99 as our journey progresses, the closer we get to the coast the temperature plummets to 62! It’s misty and cloudy with only 15 miles to go to Monterey we can’t see this improving ... but suddenly we see blue sky and the temperature rises to a respectable 70 degrees

We are staying in an Ocean Front Suite with a balcony at the Intercontinental on Cannery Row. I have booked the hotel on Holiday Inn points but paid a whopping $256 per night upgrade charge – its Michael’s 40th tomorrow and I wanted this part of the holiday to be something he would never forget.

The Suite does not disappoint, it’s huge, fireplaces in the living room and bedroom, huge tub with a picture window through to the bedroom and a second bathroom. The very best bit is the balcony looking out onto the ocean. They have kindly placed a pair of binoculars in the room for us to spot the sea otters and sea lions.






I love the room, I’m very happy indeed; there is even a little Zen garden to play with!

The first thing that strikes me whilst on the balcony is how clear and fresh the air is, the ocean smells wonderful, after 4 days in Vegas with sweltering heat and air con I hadn’t realised how it effects you, I feel like I’ve just been let out of a box




After quickly unpacking we head out for a walk, neither one of us can stop smiling, it’s so beautiful, the Fish Hopper overlooking the ocean is where we decide to eat

We share some Oysters to start with a nice glass of fizz followed by a shared cup of Clam Chowder, which is fresh and lovely. Main course is crab crusted sea bass and veg which once again is cooked perfectly and tastes lovely.




After another wander we grab blankets and sit around the hotels fire pit with two blankets and a glass of wine.

This is Michael’s favourite part of the whole holiday and for me to watch him standing looking into the ocean seeing the sea otters playing in this most beautiful of settings makes me feel incredibly privileged to be here and more than a little emotional.

We retire to our balcony and open a bottle of fizz wrapped in blankets we have a fun evening and when finally it’s too cold and too dark to stay out, we put the fire on snuggle up and watch a bit of TV




At this point I don’t think I could be any happier, everything is perfect.

[Cyclospora]

What a great day! We loved that hotel too Didn't have a balcony... but did have the Zen garden!

Wish I was there now.

[Helen0705]

A really special evening for the two of you.
Your suite looks fab .

[Siobhan]

Another vote for the IC Monterey Bay, the fire, the view and the sound of the ocean is my happy place.

[Glee Fan]

Well done on getting the Cosmo charges taken off your bill - you did well to only have your food and drink to pay for! Hope we get lucky with a free upgrade, but without the noise!

Your suite looks just perfect, what a great choice. The food sounds wonderful too. What a lovely, special evening for you both. Can totally see why you felt a tad emotional. x

[Guest]

Wow that hotel looks gorgeous! What a view! Stunning!

[disney owl]

beautiful room

[Guest]

Well done on standing up to the car hire company! I've been with 2 companies through virgin and each time they try and overcharge us! Once they wanted $500 untill we point blank refused and demanded to speak to a manager! They kept saying he wasn't there, he magically appeared when we demanded a virgin rep! Going with us rent a car this time DIY so I'll be sure to go over the paperwork with a fine tooth comb in case they try anything! So cheeky! Glad you didn't let it upset your day
xxxx

[Alyson]

Originally Posted by Disney_Dolly

Well done on standing up to the car hire company! I've been with 2 companies through virgin and each time they try and overcharge us! Once they wanted $500 untill we point blank refused and demanded to speak to a manager! They kept saying he wasn't there, he magically appeared when we demanded a virgin rep! Going with us rent a car this time DIY so I'll be sure to go over the paperwork with a fine tooth comb in case they try anything! So cheeky! Glad you didn't let it upset your day
xxxx

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Hi, in over 20 years this is first time we have had the hard sell, can't believe I fell for it. Also we book with US Rentacar, I can highly recommend them, it's an all in price and you don't have to worry about any extras thanks for reading

[orlandosgr8]

Oh wow, the hotel looks truly wondeful and romantic, what a lovely day.